A colleague expressed the feeling of being just a cog in the machine, powerless compared to management. That's not at all true! Individuals have as much power as they think they have. In the long term, a boss who exercises arbitrary "power" will drive away employees and will be revealed as a failure. (Cynical joke from another comrade (LG): "boss" spelled backwards is "double-S.O.B.") Managers can order people around only in the short run, and even then they risk insubordination, sabotage, and outright rebellion if they're unreasonable. In the military, where obedience is of utmost importance, mutinies do happen. Worker bees aren't drones unless they choose to play the rôle.